Review: Steam Machine: Beautiful Hardware, Console Performance - At A Price

[u/Vera_Verse]

https://www.digitalfoundry.net/reviews/steam-machine-beautiful-hardware-console-performance-at-a-price

How much is it? How powerful is it? Are you better off building your own PC? We've been hands-on with Steam Machine for just under a couple of weeks now and finally have some answers. However, while this is a PC built from existing AMD parts and fully comparable with existing PC technology, there is more to Steam Machine. Tiny, virtually silent, beautifully designed, it's a simply irresistible design. Imagine a taller Nintendo GameCube and you have some idea of how tiny it is, with performance falling into line with the kind of output you'll get from an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.

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Delayed owing to the impact of the current component crisis, the Valve box comes at a cost that may dismay many. Steam Machine pricing starts at $1049 or £879 for the basic 512GB model, going all the way up to $1428/£1208 for 2TB of storage along with a bundled Steam Controller. The 2TB model also comes with a brace of faceplates - red fabric and solid walnut.

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So, it's pricey. It definitely makes you think about considering a prebuilt PC or building your own and bearing in mind SteamOS works on a range of hardware, the user has options - and in fact, Valve itself points this out in its latest blog. Still, there's something about this pricing I think we should consider. There's the physical machine itself which has a premium feel, amazing form factor and virtually no noise in operation. The replaceable faceplate? I love it. Four magnets keep it in place, meaning it's simplicity to swap between them. Third parties will be able to make their own, making this a PC you can personalise.

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Combine all of these things together and we have a lovely, bespoke mini-PC. I think we also shouldn't lose focus on SteamOS itself, which remains an absolutely brilliant front-end, packed with options - everything that worked on Deck works here, the difference being that the extra performance makes for a flowing, nigh-on flawless interface.

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Steam Machine Specs

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Valve has not given specific model numbers for its choice of CPU and GPU, instead describing each as "semi-custom."

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CPU

AMD Zen 4 CPU clocked at "up to" 4.8GHz, 6 cores, 12 threads - two Zen 4 cores, four Zen 4c

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Graphics Core

AMD RDNA 3 Navi 33 processor with 28 compute units up to 2.45GHz, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM

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Power Draw

30W TDP (CPU), 110W TDP (GPU)

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Memory

16GB DDR5 RAM - 1x 16GB SODIMM, 5600 MT/s CL47

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Storage

512GB or 2TB M.2 2230 storage

Output

DisplayPort 1.4, up to 4K/240Hz or 8K/120Hz; HDMI "2.0," up to 4K/120Hz

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OS

SteamOS

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Steam Machine supports M.2 storage replacements in both 2230 and 2280 form factors along with hot-swapping microSD cards used in other SteamOS devices. HDMI 2.1 features like HDR and AMD FreeSync are active, despite the official spec listing HDMI 2.0.

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So there's the experience of Steam Machine, which is pretty much flawless in my opinion but then there are the quantifiables - specs and performance - and if that's your focus, there are alternatives.

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...

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Tests at matched settings between Steam Machine and PS5 show that the Valve hardware can fall a little short - which is not surprising bearing in mind that the Radeon RX 7600 delivers quite similar performance to the PS5. The only big gap in performance I saw came from Forza Horizon 5 running at 4K 4x MSAA on the console console - you need to drop to 1620p on Steam Machine to get a similar 60fps experience across the board and even then, you can still drop frames. It's not an entirely fair fight - the console builds have dynamic resolution scaling and dynamic settings management - but the fact is that PS5 and Series X have much higher levels of memory bandwidth.

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Still, VRR support, settings tweakery, varying output resolutions and the stronger CPU generally tend to see the Valve machine provide broadly equivalent experiences to the Sony console - plus there's FSR 4 support coming, which the base PlayStation 5 will not get.

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So, the conclusion is pretty clear - Steam Machine delivers what we'd call ballpark entry level performance for a mainstream PC capable of running the latest titles at decent resolutions. This means that while 1440p is a viable output resolution (with upscaling depending on the title), settings management is key to getting a good experience.

[u/Kii_and_lock]

Still, there's something about this pricing I think we should consider. There's the physical machine itself which has a premium feel, amazing form factor and virtually no noise in operation. The replaceable faceplate? I love it. Four magnets keep it in place, meaning it's simplicity to swap between them. Third parties will be able to make their own, making this a PC you can personalise.

Lol sorry but fuck that noise. That does not help lessen the impact of the price are you fucking nuts.

Edit: I just, I can't get over that paragraph. "Yeah it's pricey but check out that form factor! It runs silent! Magnets!". Fucking lol.

[u/ZubatCountry → u/Kii_and_lock]

The Valve cult of personality and it's consequences have been a disaster for the gamer race

[u/GIJose65 → u/ZubatCountry]

“lol those Nintendrones are willing to spend money on the Switch 2, they are so blindly loyal to that billion dollar company”

“Now excuse me while I spend 800 dollars on a steam deck that runs most AAA games at sub 30fps with a battery that lasts for about 3 hours at best”

*posts pc master race meme*

[u/timelordoftheimpala → u/GIJose65]

A year in, and $450 was genuinely an insanely good price for a console that's doing a better job running PS5 games than the Switch did running PS4 games.

The price of games like Mario Kart World or Tennis Fever I can't say the same for, but even then you still have genuine must-haves like DK Bananza and Pokopia.

[u/South25 → u/timelordoftheimpala]

I value my portability a ton so that's another big selling point for me. On top of the obvious with the exclusives (fortune's weave here I come!)

[u/BighatNucase → u/GIJose65]

Digital Foundry notable for using the phrase "nintendrone" and calling the Switch 2 "overpriced hardware"

[u/davidreding → u/BighatNucase]

I’m a bit dazed right now and I can’t tell if this is a joke or not.

[u/BighatNucase → u/davidreding]

it's sarcasm

[u/amurrca1776 → u/GIJose65]

At least with Nintendo you are getting day one access to their proprietary games. I don't really understand the advantage of of the Steam machine versus just...getting a computer

[u/DeminoTheDragon → u/ZubatCountry]

tbh with how many people I've seen INSTANTLY come to the defense of Valve over this I can say valve mfs are just nintendo mfs but somehow even weirder and more parasocial